RESET
by ShadowVulpi
Summary: Sans knows what you've been doing. Three-shot.
1. Human Child

I really don't know when I started seeing through all of the lies.

I've seen so much that I lost count of how many days, weeks, probably years passed before it got to where it is now. So, just for both of our sake's, let's say that I started figuring everything out a very long time ago. But I remember WHAT started all this. I can never forget what was the very reason I started seeing what nobody else could see.

That was you. You were the catalyst for the awareness.

Betcha find that funny, don't ya?

It started the very first time I met you, however long ago that was. You were walking through the Snowdin Forest close to The Ruins that day from long ago, and you were walking along looking lost and confused, but set on moving anyway. I was watching you from in the shadows of the trees surrounding the place. I was there because I was feeling bored that day and wanted to do something different. You just happened to be there when I was. Was all just a coincidence really. Or maybe it wasn't and we were destined to both be in the same place at the exact same time so that everything that would follow could actually happen.

Heh heh, yeah right.

Whatever it was, you didn't see me watching you, but you could sense me near. I thought you were interesting when I saw you back then. You were a human, which was something I never saw down here in the underground after your kind forced all of us monsters to stay here. A kid even. I didn't know how you could have possibly gotten down here, but it didn't matter. You were a human in the world of the monsters now.

I was going to kill you the second I saw you. I really was. I was going to get your soul and bring it to Asgore so that we could finally break out of this underground world and go back to the surface. You were going to be the seventh soul we needed. But lucky for you, I had made friends with a woman who shared my love of bad jokes long before I met you, and she had made me promise that I wouldn't kill any of you humans and keep them safe. I don't know why she made me promise that, but I kept that promise because when you meet somebody with the same fondness for horrible puns as you, you can't say no. So I decided to go greet you instead. Sure, my way of saying "hello" was startling to you, what with me being a skeleton and showing up out of nowhere and all, but I was nice to you. I hid you from Papyrus when he was going to capture you, I made his puzzles easier for you, and I took you to eat out and had a nice chat with you there. Twice. I even paid for both of the meals because I knew that you had absolutely no money on you if you fell into my world on accident. I'd say I was nice to you. I'd even say that I was being a good friend.

And you probably don't know this, but I was watching over you through your whole journey. Even when you thought I wasn't there, I was keeping an eye on you from the shadows, making sure you were alright. I was always ready to help you out if somebody was going to kill you. It was what I promised to that woman, but also, because you were my friend. I take care of my friends. I keep my friends safe, especially when those friends were defenseless little kids.

But admittedly, there was something else that was making me do that. I couldn't understand it, but I felt that I needed to make sure that you weren't hurting anybody. I didn't know where I got the impression that you would hurt anybody when you're just a kid at the time, but I didn't argue with it. I listened to that weird thought and made sure you didn't do anything bad. And as it turned out, you didn't do anything. You show mercy to every single monster you came across, even if they were attacking you. So just before you were to go meet Asgore, I shared with you my observations and then told you what you had to do before leaving. I left the choice in your hands so that you could decide whether you would kill Asgore and leave us all behind or let Asgore use your soul to let us all go free. I personally didn't care which. Whatever happened, happened.

I don't know what happened after you went with Asgore to the barrier to kill each other. I didn't watch you back then. But what I did know is that you didn't come out of that barrier room, and Asgore's body couldn't be found anywhere and all of the human souls were gone. No one really knew what to think. I knew I should have assumed that you killed him and took all of the souls, but deep down I knew you didn't despite all of the evidence. I knew that you couldn't do it when you had spared every single monster you had come across in your time in the monster world. So I called you when I didn't see you again for days and told you about how everything was doing. You didn't answer me back, but I left it on your voicemail and hoped you'd hear it. I hoped that you'd come back one day. You were a nice kid and I missed you.

It was after that point that everything spiraled into a direction I never would have predicted. Looking back on it, it almost seems like it didn't happen with how scattered and vague my memories are of it, a lot of the memories being jumbled up and hidden in my other thoughts like something out of a word search puzzle, but I know it did.

I woke up that next morning and I decided to go wander out in the Snowdin Forest just 'cause. I didn't want to do sentry duty like Undyne wanted me to and I didn't want to help Papyrus with whatever he was doing , so I went there because nobody was there. Figured I'd maybe make a snowman of myself, because you know, why not? Whenever there's snow, you just have to make a snowman. It's a rule you have to follow when you find snow near your place.

So I went into that forest to make a snowman, and then I saw a human kid.

They were walking out of The Ruins and were going through the snow. They were scared, but determined. I decided to greet the kid by sneaking up on them and everything, but just as I was to extend out my hand, they stopped and turned around to look right at me.

"Hi there," the kid said to me with a smile, not scared anymore. "Were you trying to sneak up on me?"

I was surprised that they knew I was there when I was sure I didn't make a sound, but I didn't care.

"Yeah, you could say that," I told them. "You must have some good ears."

"Hah, you can say that," the kid laughed. "Or maybe you're just bad at sneaking up on people."

I laughed at that comment. It was a jab, but it was a friendly jab and I couldn't help but admire it. So after that, that kid led me deeper into the forest and I hid them from Papyrus as soon as I heard him coming along. I hid them from Papyrus, watched them do puzzles, traveled across the land, and monitored them, driven by that weird old lady's request to protect them and the feeling that I needed to make sure they weren't doing anything bad for a reason I couldn't understand. But they never did anything malicious. In fact, they seemed to go out of their way to make everybody happy, whether it was talking with every townsperson, going on a date with my brother, or spending time with Undyne at her house. They were really putting in their all to make all of the monsters happy for seemingly no reason at all.

It was nice to watch all of that. It was touching even. I hadn't seen so many monsters happy at once, especially not since we were all forced to live down here in the underground so many years ago. Now thanks to that kid, the black clouds around everybody was gone and everybody was happy, smiling as they continued about their day. It was like something out of a cheesy commercial after an argument between everybody was resolved with something really stupid like chewing gum. But it was still good to see all of the happiness. It was a nice change and the underground felt like a slightly nicer place.

But as I watched all of that, I couldn't help but help but shake off the strangest feeling of déjà vu. I felt like I had done this all before with this kid. Maybe not all of it, like the kid helping Alphys overcoming her fears to confess her feelings for Undyne, but a lot of it felt familiar. But when I thought about it, I couldn't understand why. I was fairly certain I hadn't met that kid before. Sure, when you were here, we did some of the same things, but they weren't the same. I didn't feel like I had pressed the rewind button on a cassette after reaching the end and then finally pressing play when the video was at the beginning again. Things were different and I hadn't met this kid.

I dismissed it as nothing more than some mind trick. Just like how I thought that Asgore had disappeared the other day with the human souls we had collected. He never did. He was still back at the palace like he always was, guarding those six human souls.

My mind was playing tricks on me and I had to ignore it.

The only time that I really thought something was off was when I found myself tangled in the vines of a golden flower with others that the kid had been friends with when we had gone off to save the kid from being murdered by Asgore. There was something off about that flower as it taunted the kid, saying how it had led all of us to our doom.

There was something familiar about that flower, but I didn't know why.

All I knew at the time is that I woke up in my bed after I started having these thoughts.

I immediately dismissed the entire flower experience as nothing more than a dream. I was sure I would have remembered a talking, evil flower bent on killing everybody if I had met it before. I was pretty sure something like that is hard to forget.

But when I got up and went to eat breakfast at Grillby's, I couldn't help but feel like I shouldn't be at that place. I felt like I was supposed to be somewhere else. I didn't know where, but I felt like it was somewhere much better than my favorite restaurant. Somewhere much happier and with some monsters that weren't just my brother.

I dismissed that thought too. It was crazy.

There was nowhere better than Grillby's.

* * *

After breakfast, I went out to Snowdin Forest to go on a morning walk. I wanted to see if there had been any more snow so I could make some snowmen out of it. I found snow alright, but I also found something else. At the entrance of The Ruins where I would talk with that woman who loved bad jokes was a human kid. They were standing there, doing nothing. Their clothes were covered in dust. They looked guilty about something, but I couldn't imagine why they would be. They were just a little kid. What harm could a kid do? And I knew that they weren't one of those crazy, psychopathic children I saw in movies that murdered every adult they could get away with. They didn't have the look in their eye.

Heh heh heh.

Whatever it was, I had a promise to keep, so I went up to that kid.

"Hey there, kiddo," I said with a grin.

That regretful frown on the kid changed into a smile when I extended my hand out to them.

"Hi!" the kid said happily. "Good to see you!"

They then put their hand in mine and shook it. As we shook hands, I had strange thoughts stir up in my mind. They were strange, but for whatever reason, I saw myself summoning white demon heads out of nowhere and making them shoot out lasers at some hazy target in the distance. I heard loud screaming, and then the person disappeared. And then, there was darkness in my mind once again.

I took my hand out of the child's and led them through the forest, making sure that Papyrus didn't catch them and turn them over to Asgore. I kept them safe and made bad jokes with them and Papyrus, but as I did all of this, I couldn't help but think about that weird thought.

Why would I daydream something weird like that when touching a random kid's hand?

I eventually got over it when the kid was done with me and wandered into Waterfall. I followed after them, making sure that nobody was going to hurt them. And then when I felt they were safe, I went to MTT Resort and did my gig there, making actual jokes that weren't just horrible puns. My audience laughed at them, claiming they were great and that they had never heard them before. Not a single person went home without some tears in their eyes.

But for some reason, I didn't find the jokes funny. They felt old to me, like decades old. Like as old as the "your mom" jokes that no monster with a shred of dignity would even use anymore.

I didn't know why my jokes felt old and stale. I had made up all of those jokes that morning.

* * *

I found another human kid in Snowdin Forest right in front of The Ruins the next morning, this one covered in dust as well and looking guilty for whatever reason. I figured maybe they had seen something inside of those Ruins that had said some upsetting things to them. But, I didn't know what could be in there that would do that. All I knew who lived behind those doors was the horrible pun-loving lady, and I knew she would never say anything cruel to anybody.

At that point I felt like something wasn't right. This kid was no longer starting to look like a total stranger anymore. I couldn't tell why, but something about this kid felt familiar. Something in the way their eyes shined and the power in their walk. I hadn't seen anybody walk with so much power before in my life, and yet… it felt familiar. Like I had seen this before somewhere in another lifetime.

I didn't think about it too much and accompanied that kid and helped them with Papyrus. And then, when I thought everything was safe, I let the kid go off on their own into Snowdin while I went to Grillby's to get a burger to eat. Everybody greeted me, saying hello and asking how I was. I answered their questions with smiles and said I just wanted something to eat because I hadn't eaten all day. So, they let me be after I got my sandwich.

The strange thoughts started coming back to me again as I ate. That kid from earlier today was what came to mind first. I was watching a memory of meeting that kid for the first time in front of The Ruins as I shook hands with them. I could see that kid's eyes staring at me with that guilty look they had before they calmed down and smiled at me. But then, instead of me and the kid walking off deeper into the forest, everything rewound and I was once again sneaking up from behind the kid.

They didn't have dust on their clothes anymore, and they were scared.

They were now you, the very first human kid I met.

I stopped eating as soon as I saw that in my mind. I didn't understand what I was seeing. The kid I talked to earlier that day and you weren't the same person. I was pretty sure that I would have figured that out. I would have recognized you if I saw you again. Everybody else would have known if you had returned, Papyrus especially. He really liked you even though he was supposed to be hunting you down.

And of course, I was still waiting for you to return the phone call I left you days ago. I wanted you to come back so I could know that you were still alive. But you hadn't called back. You had left me hanging, possibly because you were dead. Because something had killed you.

You and the kid I just helped weren't the same person. There was no reason to think that.

I finished my sandwich, and then decided to check up on you again. I figured that kid and Papyrus were almost finished with their "fight" by that point. I wanted to hear what he had to say about them and make sure that they weren't too hurt. Papyrus could hurt them, even if he didn't mean to, and I was going to make sure that kid was safe. So after paying Grillby, I got out of the restaurant and made my way out of town where I felt I would find my brother and the kid before they parted ways. I imagined the two of them were duking it out in the forest outside of town nearby Waterfall.

I walked into that forest and though the snow, looking for those two, but to my surprise, I found that neither of those two were there. Nobody was there. I didn't get it. I could understand the kid being gone, as they probably ran off to continue on out of the underground, but Papyrus should still have been there.

"Papyrus?" I called out into the wind.

He didn't answer. I started to get irritated.

"Papyrus, you know you're terrible at playing hide-and-seek with me," I called out. "I always find you in five seconds and you always end up crying for a whole hour afterwards."

He still didn't answer. I stormed through the snow, calling out his name while demanding that he quit playing games with me. But he still didn't answer, making me even more irritated. But also, it made me scared. Because he never acted like this. Not once in the entire time I've known him has he acted like this. It really started to worry me, so I started calling out his name louder and searched faster.

And then I saw a red scarf in the snow. A red scarf with dust on it.

It didn't take me long to figure out what happened. I grabbed the scarf and stared down at it in horror, demanding to know why. Why. Why would that kid do this? Why would they kill Papyrus? What did he ever do to them? What did he ever do to the kid so that they had to kill him?

I stayed there in that snowy field for a few more minutes, unable to understand any of this. All I could do was stare blankly at the snow as I remembered all of the times I shared with my brother, whether it was helping him with his stupid puzzles or eating his spaghetti even though it wasn't even edible. Because now, he was gone. He was gone, all because that kid killed him.

It was all that kid's fault.

When I finally snapped out of it, I got up and went after that kid. I had to know why. I had to know why they were doing this.

I caught up with them in the golden hallway that would lead to the Throne Room. They looked at me from the other side of the hall, staring at me with a confused frown. I only remained where I was, keeping my grin plastered to my face with my hands in my pockets.

"Why are you a dirty brother killer?" I asked the kid.

"Uh…" the kid said quietly as they played with their hands. "Well… you see I… well…"

The kid looked away from me, ashamed and knowing that they couldn't give me an answer that wouldn't piss me off.

"You going to answer?" I asked.

The kid just shook their head, still looking away from me.

When I saw that, I let them pass. I let them go on to the throne room to meet Asgore for a reason I couldn't understand.

But then again, was I really expected to understand anything that a dirty brother killer thought?

That kid disappeared into the throne room, and I went back home and went to sleep.

* * *

When I woke up the next morning, I went to The Ruins to get my mind off of everything. My head was filled with haze and I needed to be alone to clear out my thoughts. I needed to still understand that Papyrus had just died yesterday because of some little kid. I thought I'd get to think in the empty forest near The Ruins entrance, but the second I showed up, I found another kid getting out of The Ruins. Just like the one from yesterday and the day before, they also had a bunch of dust all over them.

I thought it was getting ridiculous that there were so many human kids showing up here every single day when it had taken years for six other humans to fall down into the underground. I remember wondering if there was an entire line of kids waiting at the entrance to the underground, all waiting their turn to come down for whatever reason. I wondered if the lady inside The Ruins knew about these humans and why there were so many.

I greeted that kid just like I did with all the others, and then I took them toward Snowdin. Without Papyrus around, there was no longer any need to hide the kid, so I could just take them to the town directly. Then they could go do whatever they wanted and I'd watch them from afar like always. It was starting to become monotonous and I wondered if this cycle would ever end. Babysitting little kids wasn't exactly something I enjoyed doing all the time. I wanted to be able to do something else other than serve as a hidden guardian of human children. I wanted to know when it would end.

I got my answer pretty quickly, because just as I was going to take that kid to Snowdin, somebody showed up to capture the kid.

It was Papyrus, alive and well. He was running toward me, wearing that silly outfit he refused to take off no matter what like some crazy cosplayer.

I stood there, dumbfounded by what I was seeing. I couldn't understand how Papyrus was alive again. I saw what happened to him yesterday. I didn't actually see him die, but I saw his scarf, abandoned and laying in the snow, something he would never do. He loved that scarf too much. And not only that, but dust had been all over it. A heavy amount of dust that I knew could have only been on there for one reason and one reason only.

Yet there he was, running toward me, screaming about something. I didn't even get a chance to warn the kid before they hid behind a nearby lamp. The exact lamp that I told all of the other kids to hide behind when Papyrus came over here. The kid didn't hide behind the rocks in the area, or the huge post. No, it was that conveniently-shaped lamp.

They hid behind that lamp when it would have been better to hide behind the post or rocks. But they chose the lamp.

They chose the lamp.

I stared at the kid, looking at them as this seemingly useless detail started making my mind churn. The kid kept hiding, not paying attention to me.

There was something wrong with that kid. Something wasn't right. I couldn't tell why, but I knew there was. Something about all of this wasn't right, besides the obvious fact that Papyrus was still alive and running toward me from the distance. I knew that wasn't right, but there was something else too. Something else I couldn't name.

I looked at the kid some more… and then it happened.

I didn't see the kid anymore, hiding behind that lamp so that Papyrus couldn't catch them. No, what I saw turned my world upside-down.

I no longer saw a human kid behind that lamp. I saw you. You were the kid hiding behind the lamp. You and the kid were the same person.

You were ALL of the kids I had been watching for the last few days. You were all of them, somehow coming back to The Ruins at the start of each day before going off to see Asgore before coming right back to The Ruins. Somehow you were able to get back there without anybody ever seeing you.

I didn't understand how this had happened. I didn't know how I couldn't tell that all of those kids were you. They all looked the same now that I thought about it, but I somehow couldn't tell that you were all the same before. I thought that each kid was somebody different. But no, they were all you. You were always with me, going through each day with me in some sort of endless loop.

At that point, I thought that maybe I was stuck in some sort of groundhog day loop where I was doomed to repeat the same day over and over again for whatever reason. It would explain why you kept coming back through those doors and why the same events always played out each and every day. But then I realized that wasn't true. Different things did happen each and every day, and they weren't because of me.

They were because of you. Like yesterday, you killed Papyrus even though you didn't do that the first time you were here. I hadn't done anything to make that happen; you did it on your own.

Which meant that you killed him because you knew that the day would reset. You knew that doing so wouldn't lead to any consequences. You were aware of the time loop just like how I was now, and you were taking advantage of it for whatever reason.

I didn't get to think for much longer, because then Papyrus finally arrived and asked why I was slacking off when there were humans to be found. I quickly snapped out of my stunned trance as I told him the exact same thing I told him every day. And of course, he left after I gave him my answer, leaving you and me alone again. You got out of your hiding spot and looked at me, like you were waiting for me to take you somewhere.

Because you were. You were playing along just like how I was playing along so that nobody caught on to the truth.

But I knew, and I knew how to prove it.

"Hey kid," I told you.

"Yeah?" you asked me. "What is it, Sans?"

You looked up at me, your eyes innocent, like you hadn't gone through this exact same scenario with me several times before. But I knew better as I kept smile on my face and looked down at you. The lights in my eyes disappeared as my smile widened a little.

"Why are you a dirty brother killer?" I asked eerily.

Your eyes widened as you backpedaled away from me, clearly not expecting that sort of question out of me. This had never happened before in the other times we had gone through this day, so it scared you half to death. It was right there that I knew everything I figured out was true. Things weren't predictable anymore, and you didn't like that. You were scared of unpredictability.

And not only that, but you didn't like that I had asked you this question before in another timeline.

You ran away from me after I did that, never looking back. You raced right through Papyrus's puzzles, doing them hastily before running into Snowdin. And you kept going, running right past Papyrus without even giving him a chance to fight you, and then disappeared into Waterfall. It was almost hilarious watching you run away from me like that. To think that you could be scared so bad all because it wasn't something that was part of the paradigm. It was something different, something that hadn't changed because of your actions, and it scared you.

I didn't bother to follow you at all after I saw you run into Waterfall. I let you be because I got the answer I wanted. I was satisfied. It was a good day, a victory even.

I don't think you killed a single monster that day.

* * *

The next morning, I was in my bed again, with the memories of "yesterday" still fresh in my mind. I could still see your terror-stricken face as you ran away from me and into the darkness of the Underground. It was at that point that I realized you were aware of this endless time loop as much as I was, and when you found out I knew, it spooked you. Now, for whatever reason, the timeline had reset itself like it always did, and I was back at the beginning of the day. But now somehow I was actually remembering what happened in an earlier reset for whatever reason.

I went to go meet you in Snowdin Forest, and sure enough, I found you standing there, not covered in dust this time. You looked frightened, still clearly terrified by what I had said to you in the last reset. I had to resist laughing at that. I was really tempted to do it again, but I decided not to. No, as tempting as it would have been, I realized right there that I needed to figure out what was going on. I had a dark suspicion that you weren't going to help me, but I knew somebody who could.

But first, I had to make it so that you thought my little stunt yesterday wasn't real. I didn't want to get you involved in this yet.

"Hey there," I greeted you.

"H-Hey," you said back, shivering.

"Why are shaking like that?" I asked, playing stupid. "You cold or something? I could give you my jacket if you wanted."

"No… no, it's fine," you said, slowly shaking you head as you took in a deep breath. "I was just… ah, never mind. It's stupid."

"Whatever you say, kid."

And that was the end of our conversation. The two of us then went through the motions of the morning all over again, the two of us saying everything we needed to say right on cue. It was like we were in a play and we were both speaking our lines perfectly to one another, as if we had practiced this a million times before, which wasn't very far off from the actual truth. And then when Papyrus came along, we both did exactly as we were supposed to before we finally parted ways. You seemed calmer as you left, your eyes blank and a small smile on your face. I would have been happy to see that if back then if I wasn't suspicious that you weren't an innocent little kid on the inside.

Second you left me, I headed out to Hotland to meet up with Alphys. I didn't care about following you around anymore and keeping you safe; I wanted answers to figure out why the timeline kept resetting and how you and I were aware of it. I figured that Alphys, of all of the monsters, would know with her being the Royal Scientist and all. And since we were friends, I figured she'd be willing to tell me about anything she found. I know it seems odd, her and I being friends when we seemed to have absolutely nothing in common, but we were. I might not look it, but I do have a bit of an interest in science, and well, she's a scientist. It was only a matter of time before we eventually became friends.

I just couldn't remember how we became friends. I just knew that at one point in time, we had met and started talking, and that was it. I don't know how or why we met, but we did and after a while got to know each other. Everything else was a blank.

When I got inside her lab, I found her watching you from her computer monitor, cheering you on as you avoided some close hits from a monster that was bothering you. The second she saw me standing there in her doorway, she got this embarrassed look on her face before she hurried over to me. I had to resist pointing out what I really knew about you. I didn't feel like destroying her positive image of you, a hero, just yet. I knew that she liked you a lot and I only wanted her to know once I knew for sure. So until then, only I would know. Only I would know that you killed Papyrus in an earlier time for no reason at all.

"Oh! Sans, you're… you're here! Haven't seen you in a while," she greeted me. "What umm, what brings you here?"

"You done any research about time travel and the timespace continuum?" I asked her casually, like it wasn't actually something I urgently wanted to know.

"Timespace continuum? I didn't know you cared about that kind of stuff," she confessed. "I never really took you one to umm… be interested in that sort of thing."

"C'mon, you know how much I like REAL science fiction ," I told her, winking at her.

She looked a little flustered when I told her that, scrambling away from me and shaking her head nervously as she retreated somewhere in the lab, telling me to come with her. I followed after her, passing by the monitor that was showing how you were doing. I peeked at it for one second to see that you were Undyne was hunting you down, throwing all of her energy spears at you while you ran away in a panic.

I had to resist laughing when I saw that. I turned away from the monitor as Alphys lead me to some room where she had a bunch of boards plastered all over the walls, charts and diagrams filling up every inch of them. Books were opened up and scattered all over the tables, and hundreds of sheets of paper lay beside them, also having a bunch of complicated drawings that for some reason actually made sense to me. I watched as she went over to one of the boards and pointed at it before looking back at me.

She told me that she had in fact been researching the timespace continuum in her spare time due to a strange impulse and had been noticing some strange things happening in it. For whatever reason, there was an anomaly in there that was making timelines do things that never should have happened. She said that the timelines were jumping left and right, and starting and stopping all the time. And though she tried, she couldn't figure out what this anomaly was. She couldn't pinpoint a single things could be making the timespace continuum act this way.

However, she assured me that she didn't think much of it. She admitted that it was a little troubling, but with how things were going on in the underground, she didn't think it was really much concern. It wasn't like anything absolutely horrible was happening thanks to this anomaly.

But that didn't satisfy me. I knew that she was wrong. Something was causing the timeline to keep rewinding back to the beginning of the day, and somehow you and I were the only ones aware of it. Maybe I didn't know the reason for why the anomaly wanted to do all of this, but I knew it couldn't have been good.

I was going to ask more, like what could possibly give the anomaly the power to manipulate timelines, but then something in the other room set off a loud alarm. Alphys didn't waste another second and barged out of the door, shoving me out of the way as she ran down the hall. I remember frowning, annoyed that she was being distracted over something stupid. I went after her, about to ask more information about the anomaly, but then I saw why Alphys had looked so panicked when she heard that siren.

There, on the monitor, was Undyne about to explode into dust as you kicked her in the chest. Alphys was in front of that monitor, screaming so loudly that it almost drowned out the sirens themselves.

I thought I was going to have to take Alphys to another room so she wouldn't have to watch what would happen next, but Undyne surprised the both of us. Her body solidified again, and she was back in one piece. Somehow, she was alive again, even after you had struck her down. She was still standing strong, shooting you a mocking sneer. Alphys and I couldn't believe what we were watching. All we could do was stand there and watch the impossible happen before us. Undyne had defied death.

Except… she really didn't. No, after she taunted you, saying you had to try harder to kill her, you kept striking her down. With a blank stare, you kept delivering the lethal strike, slowly making more and more of Undyne's body disintegrate with each strike. You did all of this while Undyne kept taunting you, staying strong and ferocious.

And then, after what felt like forever, you finally killed her for good, and Undyne melted into a puddle.

You left after that, and you left Alphys and I to stare at the monitor where Undyne's remains were, both of us at a total loss.

It was at that point that I really started to think something was wrong with you. First you had killed Papyrus for no apparent reason, and though I was sure that you hadn't of done that in this current timeline, now you had killed Undyne. I would have understood if you did it in self-defense since she was trying to kill you, but you hadn't. You had killed her with a blank look on your face, showing absolutely no remorse.

I thought that maybe, just maybe, you were evil.

"Undyne… Undyne…" Alphys said quietly. "No… she couldn't have… she had Determination… I saw her. That's why she didn't die right away. But… it wasn't… she didn't have enough to…"

Alphys didn't get to finish whatever she was whimpering about. She burst into tears right in front of me, lamenting over the loss of her closest and dearest friend, and love of her life. She became a wreck before my eyes, her heart torn in two. Even though I wanted to know what this Determination was, since it sounded pretty interesting, I knew better than to ask. Not when she was like this. It wasn't right to do that when she was a mess. So, I did the best thing I could do in that situation and I stayed with her as she cried, knowing that nobody else could really help her.

I knew she wouldn't remember any of this when the day was over. I knew that I didn't have to stay with Alphys the whole time and just let her cry in peace, but I did it anyway. I did it because I cared. Even if it was completely pointless, I did it anyway just to make this current timeline's Alphys feel better.

I didn't go anywhere else that day. I just stayed with Alphys and took her away from the monitor. We spent the rest of the day watching that strange thing she called anime in her room. I personally thought it was ridiculous and kind of stupid with the unnecessary screaming, over-the-top melodrama, and flat-out weird humor I guess was an acquired taste, but I watched it with her anyway because it would keep her mind off Undyne. I watched all of those episodes with her and only snuck out once when she was making noodles for us to go meet up with you at the golden hallway, but even that was only so that I could keep up my ignorant facade. Otherwise, I stayed with Alphys the whole time and did my best to enjoy the anime. Because I knew if there was one thing she loved more than Undyne, it was anime.

Well, and Asgore, but that was beside the point.

When she finally passed out after watching twenty episodes of anime in one sitting, as I'm sure her brain couldn't handle the absurdity any longer, I went home, knowing that when she woke up her memories of this whole thing would be wiped clean.

It was better that way for her. She didn't need to know the truth.

It would have been too painful for her.


	2. Give Up

I was right, of course. I snuck over to Alphys's place when I woke up again after dealing with you like I always did in the morning, and I found her glued to that monitor, watching you go on through Waterfall with an eager and anxious grin. She wasn't crying or depressed because Undyne was no longer dead. Undyne was alive and well, probably hunting you down from afar at that moment. When I saw that all was well, I left that lab. She never knew I was there, for she was lost in her fantasy of thinking that you were a growing hero.

But I knew better. Even though I didn't get a lot of answers from Alphys, I was still able to figure out that there was something causing the day to repeat itself over and over again. I didn't know what, but it was something. And for whatever reason, you and I were the only ones immune to the amnesia each reset brought upon the world. But while I did nothing about it, mostly due to just realizing I was caught in an endless time loop, you were taking advantage of it.

You were manipulating the situation.

And I knew that you weren't going to stop anytime soon, because when I went to go see how you were doing later that day, I saw you kill Mettaton. You did it just as heartlessly as you did with Undyne, and then you walked off to Asgore right after. Alphys pretended she was okay with what you did, but I knew she wasn't. Not when I knew what Mettaton meant to her.

And you really didn't stop.

Each and every time I went to bed, the day reset, and I found you in Snowdin Forest, coming out of The Ruins. And each and every day, something different happened that hadn't happened the day before. Some things were innocent, like one day you'd help a monster get back to their house when they were lost in Waterfall and then the next time you'd leave them out there to be lost. Or you'd order different things off the menu whenever I took you out to eat at Grillby's, or you just wouldn't go with me at all. Simple little things like that.

But you did much worse things too like what I had already seen you do, like actually kill monsters, especially the ones you used to be friends with. One day you would kill Papyrus all over again along with Undyne. Then next day you would kill Undyne and Mettaton but let Papyrus live. Then the day after that you would kill the monsters that you encountered outside of the towns. You kept creating combinations each and every day, something new that hadn't been done before. Like on one day, you went on a date with Papyrus, and then you killed Undyne so you could see his reaction. You did things like this every single day.

Every. Single. Day.

And every single time, nobody caught on to what you were doing. Nobody knew that the day before, they had been killed by you, or had their friends stolen out of their lives, anything. They were all oblivious thanks to the resets, never to remember anything. Nobody could ever remember all of the things you did.

Nobody except me. But I never said anything. I knew that nobody would believe me. Nobody would believe something as crazy as that. So I just kept playing along as if I was fooled too. I was going to go through all of these resets with you, my memories intact but making sure nobody'd ever know.

I gave up shortly after I figured out that I was stuck in that endless loop of resets. I realized there was no stopping it or anything you did, so what was the point? I felt like I had gone through this once before already somehow with someone else and was always fighting it, even if I couldn't remember it too well. But with you, I figured there was no point. I just went through the motions, not even bothering to change anything. I just did the exact same thing every single time you reset the timeline while dropping some scary hints sometimes to let you know that I knew what was going on. I still didn't feel like outright confirming I knew what you were doing, so I messed with you instead. And you wouldn't show it, but I knew you were freaked out by that. There was a tiny glimmer of fear in your eyes every time I said something that hinted I knew what was going on.

It was satisfying to watch that back then. It was like a little inside-joke between the two of us, except it was funny only to me and scared you half to death.

You could say that I was a **bone** fide menace to your sanity.

Heh heh heh.

But really, I didn't give up entirely. Sure I gave up the idea of resisting and forcing you to stop, but I didn't completely give up by becoming a sobbing, hollow wreck as some people might have imagined I'd become. No, I was better than that. Even though I knew everything I did was pointless, I still went through every single day with a smile. I still made bad jokes, served as a nuisance to Papyrus, did stupid stunts like run an illegal hot dog stand, act as a sentry for Undyne, did my gig at MTT Resort if I was called in, taking you to eat out even though I wanted nothing to do with you, everything like that. I did all of that even though I didn't have to. One reason was because I wasn't a weakling who turned into an emotional wreck over all of this. No, I wasn't going to break all because I'd be repeating the same day over and over again for what could very well be the rest of eternity.

But the other reason was because I cared about Papyrus. Even though he'd never know what was really happening to me or the awful things you were actually doing, I was going to make him happy. I was going to play out each day like I was fooled by you too when he was around so that I could at least make him happy with knowing that he might actually catch you. Sure, I'd still mess around with him with my laziness by not correctly setting up puzzles or something like that, but I'd still do everything to make his time with you fun. He didn't need to see how I was really feeling or that you had gone through his puzzles an endless amount of times. I cared too much about him to let him know the truth.

He almost caught on a few times, like when I wouldn't respond sometimes because I was staring off into the space, distracted by my own thoughts, but he never figured out the truth. I did everything in my power to make sure he never knew that I had watched him die dozens of times. He didn't need to suffer.

So he remained happily innocent each and every time a timeline reset, never figuring out my secret or yours. And I guess by extension, nobody else I was friends with found out either. Alphys, Undyne, and that lady behind the Ruins door all remained innocent as well, which I still believe to this day was for the best.

I don't know how long this went on for. Maybe it was for a month. Maybe it was for a year. Maybe it even went on for an entire century. I honestly have no idea and kind of don't care when I really think about it. All I know is that one day, instead of killing a random monster to see how well that played out for you or making seemingly unimportant alterations to monsters' lives, you didn't hurt anybody. You actually helped everybody, going out of your way to make everybody as happy as could be. It was just like the second time I saw you.

It was such a shocker seeing that after seeing you going around murdering everybody before. I almost didn't believe it was happening at first and kept thinking you were just doing this because you wanted to mess with me now, but no, you stayed true to being a happy little kid going around, sparing everybody. It was kind of sweet watching it really even though I knew everything you had done before.

Well, it was, until I went with everybody else to make sure that Asgore didn't kill you. Because as soon as we did that, something that I thought was nothing but a fever dream showed up and absorbed everybody's souls into its own body.

It was the golden flower.

The second I was assimilated into that flower, I had weird images shove themselves into the front of my mind. I was quick to recognize them to be the same strange images I had seen before of me fighting with an unknown target in the golden chamber, me firing lasers out of white demon heads while I was filled with a strange power. At first, I didn't get why I was seeing this all over again, especially when what first triggered it was touching your hand, but I figured it pretty quickly when the darkness surrounding that target disappeared.

That target was that creepy flower, disappearing into the ground every time a laser fired at it before reappearing somewhere else to fire hundreds of pellets at me. And somehow, despite how fast those pellets were going and how they seemed to be coming from all directions, I'd avoid every single one before summoning up bones out of nowhere and flinging them at the flower.

It was like something out of one of those stupid animes Alphys made me watch, complete with the flower screaming at me the whole time, saying I'd never defeat it because it had a power I couldn't match, me giving that flower a bunch of snide remarks, yadda yadda yadda.

The memory ended with me finally incinerating the flower with a laser, it proclaiming that it'd always come back twice as strong as last time every time I killed it. The past me just goaded them on, challenging them to actually kill me, while smiling victoriously before everything went to black.

And then, I was free again, and this time, standing in the barrier room with the queen, Asgore, Alphys, Papyrus, Undyne, and of course, you. That flower was nowhere in sight. Well, except in my mind. I could clearly see that memory playing in my mind over and over again, not understanding what was happening.

When I had done any of that? How did I have those weird powers when I didn't have the least bit of training and couldn't care less about fighting? These questions swam in my mind and I found myself growing less and less sure about a lot of things. And it didn't help that the flower was nowhere in sight, so it wasn't like I could go ask it if there was ever a time I incinerated it and how it could have possibly lived through that.

But I didn't get to think about it for much longer, because then everybody discovered that the barrier was broken and that we could all leave now. We could all go the surface and be free, just like we always wanted to.

Everybody hurried outside, and after climbing up for a while, we finally made it to the surface world where all of the humans lived. The first thing the seven of us all saw was the sunset in the distance.

I remember being so mystified by that sunset. I hadn't seen anything remotely close to it in the underground. Sure, we had some lights, but nothing could quite match the brightness that was that sun, shining in that warm yellow and orange color. It was almost a little blinding when I was so used to just having flowers or crystals lighting the way in the underground, but my eyes adjusted pretty quickly.

Well, "eyes", since you know, I'm a skeleton and all. Don't ask me how it works because I couldn't tell you.

Anyway, after staring at the sun for a while, I looked over at you. I noticed that you weren't doing much, just staring at the sunset yourself with everybody else, this pensive, misty look in your eyes. You looked like you were trying to smile, but for whatever reason it wasn't working, so you were stuck with that blank stare. I remember watching you from where I stood, wondering what you could possibly be thinking.

Here you were, after all of these resets, and you had finally made the decision to let everybody live and come to the surface instead of messing around underground. Finally, after who knew how long, you had let us get the happiness we all wanted. I should have been happy when I realized that. I really should have after watching everybody wish for years that they could leave the dark underground and be up with the humans again. But I wasn't, and that was because I realized that you had actually given this to all of us once before.

And it had been stolen from all of us.

The second time that reset happened, you brought us to the surface. I know you did, because that was the only other time that the flower showed up and tried to assimilate everybody. I just couldn't remember it because the timeline had reset, wiping out any memories I had after we were all set free. But I knew that you had taken us to the surface before and gave us the hope of doing whatever we wanted. I just couldn't remember it, and neither could anybody else.

But you didn't bring us back here right away for whatever reason. You delayed that for who knows how long, and I couldn't help but feel some resentment toward you for that. Maybe it wasn't your fault that these timelines kept resetting, but you were aware of them. But instead of getting everybody a chance to be happy, even if only for a day, you kept us all underground. And you toyed with everyone, knowing nobody would ever know. You wouldn't give anybody their happiness, and though I could understand you doing that because it was ultimately pointless to make everybody happy when time kept getting reset, I couldn't help feeling pissed off at you. You should have kept trying anyway. You should have instead of entertaining yourself by toying with the lives of others, knowing there were no consequences.

But as much as I grew to hate you, I didn't let it overwhelm me. I instead told myself to let it go, because we were back on the surface again. And maybe, just maybe, you'd bring us back here when the timeline reset again. Maybe you'd do it for the rest of eternity, just to see everybody smiling.

Everybody stared at the sun for a while longer, and then they asked you what you wanted to do now that you had helped them. You volunteered to be an ambassador so that when we did come across any humans, they would know that we came in peace and only wanted to be a part of the human world again. Of course, everybody loved that plan, and we all headed down the mountain with happy smiles.

Then, when we got close to the base of the mountain, we all set up camp and called it a night, deciding we'd talk to the humans in the morning where we'd hopefully come off as less threatening. But of course, since I was very well aware that the timeline was going to reset the second I fell asleep, I didn't go to bed. I stayed up until everybody fell asleep (though getting Papyrus to go to sleep required reading him a bedtime story), and then I snuck away from camp to go explore the human world on my own.

The first thing I noticed was that everything there was really, really big. All of the buildings were huge, and there was so much space compared to the cramped underground. I was pretty sure that we could fit just about every monster in the underground in one of those huge, towering buildings that was several stories high. It was pretty daunting really.

The second thing I noticed was that the human world had a lot of things that the monster world didn't have. I saw it for myself when I was leaving behind a city I came across and was going to try and find the next one. Apparently that city lived right alongside the ocean and I had walked toward it. So when I left the city, I found myself at the beach, no city in sight. And let me tell you, there are no beaches in the underground. Second I stepped onto that sand, I didn't know what to think of its weirdly mushiness and how easily it stuck to my shoes. And when the waves started rolling in and tried touching my feet, I didn't know how to react to that either. I knew the water wasn't dangerous, but I was marveled by how the water was doing that when it seemed that nobody was in the water at all. Some unseen force was causing the water to form into waves that would then crash onto the sand before retreating back into the ocean.

And then I saw the stars of the night sky. Let me tell you, second I finally got a good look of the night sky that day, I really thought it was a lot more beautiful than the sunset. There was something about it, something about the dim glimmering of a thousand tiny lights in a black blanket across the sky that sparked a certain kind of amazement in me. And unlike with the sunset, it didn't feel rushed. I didn't feel like I needed to cherish every second of the sunlight that I could. With this night sky, I felt like I could enjoy it but not stress over the thought that it would disappear in the blink of an eye.

But thankfully, despite some of the things the surface world had that the underground didn't, the two worlds ended up having quite a bit in common. Aside from everything being bigger and roomier and things that couldn't possibly exist underground, everything else was pretty much the same. They sold the same kind of food for the most part, there were hotels just like MTT Resort, there were hotdog stands, open fields, everything. They didn't have any echo flowers though or hidden villages, but it really was just like our world, meaning it really wouldn't be that hard to adapt. All we had to do was just get the humans to understand us and then we'd all be on our way.

I kept exploring this human world the best I could, going as far as I could walk before I grew tired and found I could walk no more… which actually wasn't very far. I was still in the original city I had wandered into, though now somewhere downtown. But I found I was tired because of the events of that day, because apparently having your soul assimilated really drained you, so I knew I had to stop. As much as I wanted to keep looking around, I knew I had to stop and accept that I wouldn't be seeing this world in the morning. I'd be back in the monster world just like always.

But I didn't let myself feel down at that thought. Was better to have seen this wonderful place than to have never have seen it at all. And maybe, just maybe, I could see it again tomorrow if fate was so kind as to do that.

Heh heh heh.

So I climbed up the mountain to go back to you and the others. And then once I found them, I went back to my makeshift bed resting right next to Papyrus before letting myself pass out.

* * *

You couldn't possibly believe the pure shock going through me when I woke up to find myself still on that mountain with everybody still sleeping around me. You really couldn't. Not after waking up every single morning in my bed back underground and growing used to it every single time. But not that day. No, on that day I had actually woken up somewhere different, in an actual tomorrow and not a repeat of a today.

I almost didn't believe it was real when I woke up. I really didn't. But then I saw you, standing there on the edge of the cliff, looking out into the horizon. You were actually smiling now, like being able to do it without it looking painful. And then, you looked at me, and your smile seemed to grow.

And it was right there that I realized you knew it was a new tomorrow as well. You knew that for whatever reason, the reset wasn't happening anymore and that we'd all be free to do as we wanted on the surface land.

You and I were free.

After everybody else woke up and had a small breakfast made out of the supplies we brought with us out of the underground, we all headed down into the human city and finally introduced ourselves to them after all these years. The humans, naturally, were pretty terrified of us and wanted to send us back underground, but you stepped in, telling everybody that we were friendly and not to be feared. And though I knew that the humans were still scared of us, they did listen to you and gave us a chance to prove ourselves friendly. And thus, we monsters did, slowly moving into their world and helping them with whatever they needed.

Days and days passed, and I always woke up to still find myself on the surface. Maybe I wasn't always in the same place since I'd be in different areas sometimes, but I'd always be on the surface and not back in my bed underground. I really was paranoid for a while, wondering if the reset would ever happen and if I'd have all of this taken away from me, just like that, but it never did happen. The reset never came, and I'd always be on the surface with everybody else.

It really was great. I really did love being on the surface. I loved all of the cool inventions the humans had like their cars, all of the shops, all of the food they served, all of the highways I could pedal a tricycle down, everything. But most of all, I loved being able to go outside at night and look up at the stars. It was a strange thing. It wasn't significant to anybody else, especially not to the humans since most of them were passed out at night, but seeing it filled with me with a sort of wonder I can't explain. Maybe it came from never being able to see such a marvelous thing for my entire life, but I just loved looking at the night sky every day, usually dragging Papyrus to stay out with me. He didn't always like to, getting pretty bored of it after a while, but he'd still watch it because it made me happy.

Well one day, I think after two weeks of being on the surface, Papyrus couldn't stargaze with me because Undyne wanted to spend time with him. I thought I'd be alone, which was fine by me for just a day, but I had something pretty amusing happen instead.

You decided you'd join me that night.

Somehow you had heard that Papyrus wouldn't be with me that night and knew about what I liked to do, so you volunteered yourself to watch the night sky with me. And while I didn't exactly get why, since you were so busy being an ambassador and also taking care of things with the human family you still had and I never saw you, but I didn't decline your offer. I was still a little pissed off at you because it had taken so long to get to the surface again, but that feeling was dying down.

So you and I stargazed on top of some hill outside of the city. For a while, neither of us said anything to the other, just looking up at the stars and admiring them. But after a few minutes, you looked over at me.

"How are you liking it up here on the surface?" you asked me.

"It's nice," I told you casually. "I like a lot of things. What about you? How are you doing with your ambassador stuff and whatever it is you do?"

"It's going okay," you told me. "It's a little exhausting and scary, especially since there's a lot of people that are afraid of you guys still, but I try to get them to understand. And having Asgore with me helps out since I feel a lot safer around him."

"Even though he's a big softy on the inside," I chuckled.

"Yeah, but maybe because of that that's why I feel better," you said with a smile. "But when I'm not being an ambassador, I'm usually with my parents back home. They're having a hard time understanding everything. You know, with me meeting all of you guys and still being alive when anybody who fell into the monster world got killed. They really thought that after I got lost in that mountain when I was going on a hike, that I wouldn't make it. They really thought that you guys would kill me. So it's a little hard to get them to let me go sometimes, but I think they're starting to accept it. They don't look so scared of Asgore anymore, and they seem to like Toriel. I don't know about Undyne, though. They're kind of freaked out by her and think she's going to harpoon them or something if she gets mad."

"Well that's Undyne for you," I said, winking at you. "Tell them they better get used to it."

You laughed a little when you said that and then fell silent. Your smile slowly disappeared as it turned into a thoughtful frown. You looked at the ground as you curled your fingers around the grass, nearly ripping it right out of the ground. It didn't take me long to figure out something wasn't right with you. And regardless of what I thought of you before, I still felt worried about you.

"What's the matter, kid?" I asked you.

You didn't say anything for a while, only staring at the ground with an intense look like you were trying to make the grass catch on fire.

"Do you ever wonder why I fell into your guys' world?" you asked me.

"Uh… well no, not really," I said, stumped by your sudden question.

You smiled for a brief moment before you frowned again, still looking at the ground.

"It was because I was bored," you told me. "I was getting kind of bored of everything going on here. Things were just getting boring and nothing ever changed. So, when I found out that mountain close to here might have had a secret entrance to the monster world, I decided to go find it. I wanted to see what was there because it could be something new, something that wasn't boring. Maybe I'd have an adventure down there. So I climbed up that mountain one day when my parents weren't home and I looked for that entrance. And when I found it… I went right on through and ended up in your world. And well… I can certainly say that I found the excitement I was looking for."

I didn't know what to say to that. The thought that you had willfully dropped yourself into the underground because were tired of your supposedly monotonous life on the surface was unnerving to me for some reason. I didn't think anybody would put themselves in a world full of dangerous monsters all because they wanted some excitement. It was pretty baffling for me to hear you confess that to me.

I didn't get a chance to respond though, because then you laughed quietly and shook your head.

"Sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you that," you then told me. "I must be tired or something. You know, with all of this running around and everything. I don't think I even got a chance to take a break until now."

"It's alright kiddo," I replied.

You smiled before getting up and telling me that you needed to head home since your parents would be worried about you. So, I bid you farewell and watched you disappear down the hill until you were finally gone from sight. When I found myself alone again, I found myself thinking about your words, pondering over them. You had come to the monster world because you were bored and wanted to see what was there. You were tired of your human life for whatever reason.

Something about that didn't sit right with me. Sure, I knew what you did was pretty stupid, but there was something else about it too. Something about what you said unnerved me, but no matter how much I thought about it I couldn't figure out why.

After thinking over it and getting no answers, I decided not to think about it anymore. I figured it was just something silly and meaningless. So, after staying on that hill for a few more minutes, I too got up and went to my new home on the surface as well and went to sleep.

And then it happened. I woke up that next morning.

I woke up…

… and I was back in my bed in the monster world. Tucked under the sheets. In my messy, messy bedroom, snow gathering outside of my window.

I remember I was so enraged when I woke up in my bedroom. I ripped the blankets off of me and threw them to the ground before kicking down the door and hurrying into Snowdin Forest. And sure enough, there you were, coming out of the entrance with that blank stare. Except this time, there was a glimmer of happiness in your eyes, like you were actually HAPPY that the reset happened again so you could do everything all over again.

And that's when I figured it out. I felt like such an idiot for not figuring it out earlier.

You were the cause of the resets. I didn't know how, but you were the one that was doing all of those resets. That was why you were aware of the timeline changes just like I was. I mean, it sure didn't explain why I was aware of them, but now I knew why you were.

You were the reason they even happened.

You couldn't imagine how pissed off I was when I figured that out. You just couldn't. I stormed up to you, not even bothering to go through the motions of pretending I had never met you before, and grabbed you by the shirt collar and raised you into the air so that you were only a few inches away from my face.

"Why?" I growled at you. "Why did you reset everything? Why are you and I back here?"

You didn't say anything, but I could see the shock on your face. You really hadn't expected me to remember all of the other timelines when you had been constantly resetting them and erasing memories.

"Answer me," I demanded, shaking you violently. "Why did you bring us back here?"

You still didn't say anything. I couldn't believe this. I couldn't believe that you had stolen not only my happiness, but everyone else's too. I couldn't understand why you would do such an awful thing. I just couldn't understand what kind of sick monster you could be.

I threw you onto the ground and let you go wander out of there, me following you. I didn't bother trying to point out anything wrong when Papyrus arrived; I just played along. I was ready to go through the motions again. I had done this so many times, it became as easy breathing.

Except… what you had been doing in the past isn't what ended up happening. Instead of playing along with Papyrus's puzzles, you just forced your way through them. You mocked him. You killed all of the monsters in the area without remorse until all of the monsters grew scared of you and quit coming after you. All of the townspeople fled the second they heard about you and left the town empty. You stole everything from every store you came across in Snowdin. You killed Papyrus. You just stood there, looking down at the dusty scarf in the snow as I watched you from afar, not able to fathom anything.

Why were you suddenly killing literally everybody you came across? You never did this before. You would kill some monsters, but it was only a select few.

And then I saw your face.

You… had this horrible smile on your face. This smile that reeked of pure evil. I didn't even think I was looking at you when I saw that smile.

Second I saw that smile, something happened to me. These images forced their way into my mind and the next thing I knew, I was no longer watching you walk away from the dusty remains of Papyrus. No, what I saw instead was me with that golden flower again in the golden hallway. But this time, the two of us weren't fighting. Instead, I was looking at the flower with a smug, confident grin. I could see my left eye glowing with a blue light in the reflection of a window nearby. And that flower was smiling as well, shooting me the exact same smile that you were wearing. That flower said something to me, something about how I needed to get out of its way before it killed me, but I refused. I just shook my head, telling it that I was going to stop it from destroying everything everybody held dear. That flower then said I couldn't stop it because it had Determination within it.

And then, that image melted away as another unfamiliar memory came over me. I saw myself in a lab with Alphys, the both of us looking a lot younger than we are now and standing in front of a very strange monster. He towered over both of us, looking a bit like a skeleton like me with a white lab coat and black eyes with cracks going through them. He was a creepy looking guy, but for some reason, me and Alphys weren't scared of him. All we did was watch as he showed us a board with writing all over it and explained a very strange concept to us. He told us about something called "Determination" , a force that humans have within their powerful souls that can allow them to persist in all circumstances. And in some humans, or the rare monsters that also had it, their Determination so great that they could press on even in death. Somehow, they could undo their death and travel back in time, making it so that they never died in the first place. He told us about it in a strange language that didn't seem the least bit familiar, but I could somehow understand every single word he said.

Alphys and I nodded our heads, and then he went on to explain other concepts before the memory faded to allow a new one to take its place. Now, I was with that strange skeleton all alone in what I realized was The Core of the underground where all of the geothermal energy was turned into magical electricity for the monsters of the underground to use. The both of us in front of a strange machine with many flashing lights and switches on it. It was flashing and shaking violently, smoke rising out of it as the skeleton frantically pressed buttons on it while I could only stand back, watching in horror. He looked at me with this very grim look, looking like he was going to give me an order and then this blue vortex suddenly opened up out of the machine.

Before I even knew it, that vortex swallowed that skeleton up. I tried to reach for him, but the second I put my hand into the vortex, it sent this chilling shock through my body, making it crawl through my bones and making a blue fire spread through me. And then, everything suddenly went dark before a new memory came over me. I saw myself in my house, looking at a strange photo of me, Papyrus, and that skeleton man. We were all smiling in the photo, looking so happy.

Like a family.

And then, suddenly, the skeleton was gone, and it was only Papyrus and I in the photo. I didn't even look like I noticed from what I could tell from the reflection in a nearby mirror. I just kept staring at it blankly for another few minutes before Papyrus ran inside, telling me we needed to somewhere.

The memories changed again, and I was back with that flower again. It was still taunting me, telling me it could never win because it'd keep resetting our entire battle every time it died and that eventually it'd win. It said that it'd eventually learn everything I threw at it because it could reset the whole battle and I'd never know because my memories would get reset. It gloated that to me, knowing I'd never remember.

The look on its face was priceless when I told it that it had said that the last time I killed it.

And then, just like that, the memories ended, and I was back in the forest outside of Snowdin, you gone from sight. I held my head as I slowly let everything process in my mind, now realizing why Alphys and I were friends. We were both scientists apparently, working for that skeleton man. That man that I got the strangest feeling was my father. And yet… the more I pondered, the more I realized I couldn't exactly remember anything about him. Those memories were all I had of him. Something had happened to him, and that was why I had never heard anybody talk about him. And somehow, I had forgotten about him. Somehow, probably because of that vortex, I had forgotten.

But that vortex… it had done something else as well. It had given me a power. I had no way of knowing for sure, but there was no other reason my eye would have been glowing the same color the vortex was.

Then I thought about the flower. It had done resets just like you. It had for whatever reason, and now you were doing the exact same thing as it. Which meant… you were going to do the same thing that flower was going to do back then.

You were going to destroy everything.

You were going to kill everybody. That smile you had was the exact same one the flower had in that memory. And there was no stopping you. And I had a feeling that you weren't going to reset everything after you were done being a genocidal maniac.

In other words, this world was going to fall into ruins, possibly the human world as well.

It was when I realized this did something in me finally snap. I was suddenly so incredibly pissed off at you like you wouldn't believe. You couldn't even begin to understand how pissed off I was and how much hate I felt inside of me. Because it was at that moment that I realized I had enough. Not only did I not want you to kill everyone, but I was tired of letting you get away with everything and not doing anything about it. I was tired of letting you run everything like you owned this world. I was tired of letting you reset the world and doing nothing about it. No, not after all of the monsters you killed.

Not after you were bent on killing literally everybody in sight at once this time around, making it so that nobody could stop you.

Not after you killed Papyrus over and over again.

You were going to pay for everything you did.

And I was going to be the one to make you suffer.


	3. Sins

I made my way to the golden chamber that I always talked to you in before you fought Asgore, and then I waited for you there. I waited for you by a pillar in the area, knowing you'd show up eventually. Maybe you wouldn't be there for several hours, but you'd come. And when you'd come, I'd be right there for you.

Sure enough, after waiting for about two hours, you came in through the entrance. You looked so much worse than you did the last time I saw you. Your eyes were gleaming with malice, and clutched tight in your right hand was a knife capable of ending anybody's life with a single swipe. Tied around your neck was a locket, which I found most amusing since I knew there was no way you actually had anybody you cared about in this world. Not after everything you had done.

I looked at you from across the room, smiling at you while you glared at me, tightening your grip around that knife.

"Heya," I greeted you. "You've been busy, huh?"

You didn't answer the question. I never expected you to.

"So, I've got a question for ya," I then asked you. "Do you think even the worst person can change? That everybody can be a good person if they just try?"

I knew full well that you couldn't change and I just asked you this question just to mess with you. You must have figured this out too, because you stepped forward, closing the gap between us a little.

"Heh heh heh heh… alright. Well, here's a better question," I then told you before the light in my eyes disappeared as I felt my anger growing inside me. "Do you wanna have a bad time? 'cause if you take another step forward… you are REALLY not going to like what happens next."

You still took a step forward. I knew you would. I couldn't help but laugh at your predictability as I shook my head. It looked like I was going to be breaking my promise to the queen after all. But after everything you had done, I wondered if she still even wanted me to keep that promise. Maybe she would have changed her mind if she saw someone like you.

Before you could even make another move, I reached out and ignited that power I had within me. It came so effortless, so easily like it was just waiting for me to use it again. I suddenly knew about every single power I had, all locked inside of me this entire time. Now it was ready. Now it was ready to unleash itself upon you.

My left eye filled with a great power as I had that same power engulf your heart, turning it blue and allowing me to have complete control of you. I lifted you high into the air, watching you feebly struggle, and then slammed you back onto the ground. And then the moment you hit the ground, two bones shot out of the flooring and impaled you right through the heart, killing you instantly. My smile widened as I retracted the bones and watched you slump the ground, now a bloody mess. The feeling of seeing you dead after everything you had done was so satisfying.

Finally, you knew what it felt like to die.

But then, next thing I knew, you were gone and I was standing by that pillar again. The blood on the floor where your corpse lay was gone. But I didn't panic, because I came to expect this sort of thing. You could go always go back and make new decisions in the timeline, so why would it be such a surprise to see that you could make it so that you never stayed dead? And I was sure that flower could do the same somehow. It really didn't surprise me when your corpse wasn't there. But it confirmed something either way. You really were the source of all of those resets. Everything really was your fault.

I found you coming out of the entrance once again, but this time, you ran at me with your dagger in hand. You ran at me and closed the distance between us, and you lunged that weapon at me. You thought that I'm going to take the attack just like everybody else you've ever killed because they're not expecting it, but I was better than that. I know you're out to kill. I know you're not an innocent little kid.

I instantly moved out of the way as the knife was to impale me, and I watched you nearly trip over yourself.

"What? You think I'm just going to stand there and take it?" I laughed at you.

I snapped my fingers, and a massive, white demon head materialized beside my shoulder. You barely had any time to react before it blasted you with a white laser, and I watched with a gleeful smile as you were incinerated before my eyes.

I found myself back at the pillar as you reset everything, and then the next thing I knew, you're right in front of me, ready to plunge that knife into me.

"Well now, that's the second time you've died without even touching me," I told you. "But third time's the charm, right?"

I moved out of the way and watched as you got that knife stuck inside the pillar. You pulled it out just in time to avoid a whole flurry of bones I threw your way, all of them sinking into the pillar where you once stood. You've learned how to dodge my attacks now.

I didn't let that last for very long.

I gained control of your soul again and smashed you into a pillar, and then before you could even get up, I sent a single bone into your body so that it impaled you right through the heart.

Everything reset again, and then you were rushing at me from the entrance like earlier.

"Three times in a row now," I teased at you again. "Want to make it a fourth?"

I materialized a bunch of bones and threw them at you. Much to my surprise, you managed to avoid every single one, swiftly moving left and right as they each flew past you. And then, once you got past the last bone, you swung your knife at me. I ducked and then raised my hands up, causing bones to burst out of the ground to impale you. Unfortunately, you somehow expected this and ran out of the way just as they were to go right up into your lungs. You avoided getting impaled and then lunged that knife at me again. I was able to sidestep out of the way and then flung you into a wall.

I formed a blaster head by my shoulder and had it fire a laser at you, but you were too quick for it. You rolled out of the way as the laser struck the wall, blowing debris everywhere. Next thing I knew, you were on me again, bringing that knife down on my head. I ran out of the way before making two blasters appear at your sides. You didn't expect that to happen, because you were incinerated a second later.

I blinked, and then I was back at the pillar again, not feeling the toll of having to use all of that energy. I started to wonder if you would ever get tired of these constant resets. I wanted you to give up so that this could all end. I wanted you to reset everything you've done and give me back the happiness that you've stolen not just from me, but from everyone else.

When I spotted you emerging from the entrance, I had four bones rise out of the ground. You instantly jumped out of the way and raced toward me. You closed the distance quickly and tried to stab me with the knife for what felt like the twentieth time. I almost started to feel bored as I sidestepped, took control of your soul, and thrashed you against a pillar. Except this time, I didn't feel like thrashing you only one time. Oh no, you clearly weren't learning your lesson just by getting some quick deaths. You kept coming back even after I kept killing you.

No, you needed something different.

I thrashed you against a bunch of pillars, making sure that you hit them face-first before going on to the next one. You were flying all over the hall as I tossed you around, your blood and teeth fly all over the place. And then, when I felt like you had enough, I finally flung you to the ground, face-first. There was a sickening crack as you landed and fell right over as I released my control over your soul. You looked up at me, most of your teeth gone and what remained of them broken beyond repair, tears streaming down your face. Blood was trickling down your face and streaming out of your nose. Chunks of rocks from the pillar were sticking out of your face.

You tried to get back up, pushing yourself on all fours, but I stamped my foot down onto your back. You were forced back down, your face hitting the ground again.

"Wow, you're really filled with determination, aren't you?" I asked. "Look at where it's gotten you. I'm jealous, let me tell you."

I pressed down harder on your back and listened to some bones in your body snap. You tried to swing your knife at me, but I caught your wrist and yanked the knife right out of your hand before tossing it far away from the both of us. Now you were totally powerless.

The malicious gleam in your eyes disappeared as you reverted back into a weak and scared kid, kind of like the innocent kid I thought you were when I first met you.

"Sans, stop it!" you begged me. "Let me go!"

"Why? So you can keep resetting our fight so you can keep trying to kill me? So you can continue having fun?" I asked. "Sorry kid, but that's getting a little boring for me. It's only fun watching you hopelessly try to kill me for so long. I figured I'd do something different and well, I'm finding this to be a lot more fun. How about you?"

You started screaming louder and thrashing about, but you still couldn't get up. You were still pinned down under my foot, writhing around uselessly like a flailing worm.

"Come on, Sans! Let me go!" you cried more. "I thought we were friends!"

"Oh we're more than friends," I grinned evilly. "In fact, right after this, we're going to go get dinner at MTT Resort together and I'm going to suddenly realize how much I like you and start developing feelings for you. Then we'll go on another date and another one and another one until we both share the same feelings. Then we'll go to my house and hang out there. Yeah, it'll be great… Oh wait, I just realized something."

You looked up at me with a curious glare. I only kept smiling as the light in my eyes faded away.

"Nobody would want to be friends with a sick kid who goes around killing monsters all because they know nobody will ever remember. Especially if they've seen every single murder you've committed."

Your eyes widened in terror as I said that. I couldn't help but widen my grin as I put my hands into my jacket pockets. You kept staring up at me, totally speechless and also scared. You honestly looked terrified thanks to what I said and how I looked. Good, you deserved to be scared like that.

I didn't say anything more as I pressed my foot down harder upon your back, making sure there wasn't any room for you to slip out and start killing me all over again. I was going to keep you like this, all bloody and bruised, for as long as I could before killing you. You were going to suffer because of ME now, not the other way around.

But of course, you wouldn't take that. You reset everything, and I found myself waiting for you again. I was waiting for you to show up so that I could give you another beat down. I wanted you to show up so that I can break your spirit even more. I wanted to give you even more pain so that you'd finally quit fighting and reset everything. I knew you could, so I figured that if I kept infuriating you, you'd eventually give up and bring everybody back to the surface again. Determination could only last for so long when you kept dying over and over again and were getting absolutely nowhere.

And sure enough, you showed up again just like you always did.

I was going to make some blaster heads appear this time, but just before they could materialize, you did something I never expected you to do. You threw your knife to the ground, and you looked at me. You looked at me with tears in your eyes.

I didn't materialize those blasters and watched as you came toward me before stopping a few feet away from me. I kept my hands in my jacket pockets as I watched you look at me, not even bothering to wipe the tears in your eyes.

"Sans… I don't want to do this anymore," you told me.

I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything.

"Look, I'm tired of fighting you. I get it. I'm never going to beat you," you went on. "And not only that, but fighting you like this… it made me realize what kind of a monster I've become. It made me realize what horrible things I've been doing this whole time just to get to this point… and I'm… I'm…"

The next thing I knew, you ran into me and hugged me tight. You buried your face in my jacket, crying loudly as your sins finally weighed down on you. For a moment, I didn't do anything. For a moment, I just stood there at a total loss, not sure what to think of your sudden mercy. I was so used to you killing everybody without a second thought or even a sign of remorse, not to mention trying to kill me for who knew how long. So it came as a real shock to you suddenly like that, crying and pitiful.

It took me a little while, but eventually I found it somewhere in my heart to show you some mercy. Even though I was pissed off at you for all of the terrible things you had done in the past, I felt that maybe you had done all of this by mistake. Maybe you really didn't know any better and you didn't realize how much you were hurting everybody. Maybe you really weren't as bad as I thought you were. When I felt this, I was able to get myself to hug you back.

"I'm sorry, Sans," you told me, whimpering. "I'm really sorry that I did all of this. I just… I did all of this resetting for a really stupid reason."

"Yeah," I answered, keeping the bitterness out of my voice. "I know what you've done. I know about all of the monsters you killed."

"Sorry," you said to me. "It's just… I didn't mean to start all of this at first. I was just really, really bored. At first, I just wanted to explore everything on my own and experience whatever came my way. I wanted to enjoy this journey. But then, after I defeated Flowey and I let him live, I wondered if there was a way to make everybody happier. And… I wanted to see what it would look like if everybody was happy. So I reset everything I did after figuring out what had to be done and then did everything I had to so that I could see how happy everybody could be in the end. And when I got to see it, I really was happy. I was happy for me, and happy for all of you. I really was. But then…"

You looked down, afraid to show your face to me. I still held you close, but I kept my eyes on you, not liking where this is going.

"But then I started to wonder how differently everything would be if I made certain choices while I was on my journey," you went on. "And I started getting really curious to know what possibilities there were. So, I reset everything again and kept exhausting every single choice to find all of the possibilities there were from my choices. I'd keep going go back to see all of them because it was something new. I didn't think that it'd be hurting anybody since I could reset the whole thing and nobody would ever remember the pain I caused… and I always intended on bringing you guys to the surface like I had before. I honestly was just going to let you guys be happy again. But then… I wondered what would happen if I killed every single monster I saw."

I REALLY did not like where this was going. I started glaring down at you as you kept talking, but you couldn't see me because you were looking away from me. You were too ashamed to look at me in the eye.

"I got really curious about that. I thought maybe something unbelievable would happen," you said. "So, because I was so curious… I did just that. And I saw what I was in for. I saw what happened to Undyne when she refused to die, and I… I saw what you're really capable of. I saw that you're not really a funny skeleton that's lazy and does absolutely nothing. You're… not."

I didn't believe my ears. I didn't. I couldn't believe you had told me all of this.

"So you kept resetting all of those times because you wanted to see what the consequences of your actions were?" I asked. "You wanted to… manipulate us like we were chess pieces so you wouldn't be bored anymore? You did all of this… even though you were hurting everybody around you and making them suffer? Even though you KNEW that I had to watch you do this countless times? All because you were sick of being bored and wanted something to do?"

"I'm sorry, Sans," you cried, weeping louder. "I'm sorry! I just wanted to know! I just wanted to know how everything was different! I didn't think it mattered because you guys would never rem-"

I couldn't take it anymore. I formed a blue bone in my hand, and then I stabbed it right into your back. I watched you squirm and scream as I dug the bone deeper into you, puncturing your organs and sapping the life out of you. You looked up at me, begging me to let you live, but my sympathy was gone.

I twisted the bone and shoved it upward, making you cough up blood.

"You're going to fix this," I said coldly, the light in my eyes gone. "You're going to go back and reset everything and get everybody to the surface. You better, or else I'm seriously going to make you regret it, kid."

And then, I pulled the bone out of your back and tossed you to the ground, where you were then impaled by a bed of bones waiting for you along the ground. I watched you bleed to death, you staring up at me with teary eyes as your spirit left you, and I waited. I waited for you to reset everything so that I could wake up in my bed again and watch you do the right thing. I waited, and waited. And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I blinked, and then…

Back at the pillar.

Back.

At.

The.

Pillar.

I was back at the pillar in the golden chamber, and five seconds later, there you were at the entrance, holding that knife in your hand again. I snapped at you and instantly formed two blasters at my shoulders. They fired at you, but you quickly got around them and you sprang at me, ready to impale me again. I leapt out of the way and threw more bones at you. You moved just as quickly as before.

"Why?" I asked you. "Why are you back here? Do you enjoy being dunked on like some sick freak? Because if you do, I'll gladly do it again… wouldn't want you to feel like I don't want you to be happy. We're friends, aren't we?"

I was pretty sure you could hear the anger in my voice, because you started shaking.

"No! I…. I just need to know what happens if I kill you!" you cried at me. "It's really bugging me and… and I… I just have to know what it is! So if you want to get to the surface again, just let me kill you! I promise that after that I'll give you what you want! Just die for me! Please!"

I lost it after I heard that from you. I felt so utterly betrayed that you couldn't possibly comprehend it. I don't know what happened next. It's really difficult to explain it even now that I have time to think about it. All I know is that I was so pissed off at you that I started using multiple attacks on you at once, like throwing hundreds of bones at you while firing lasers at you. And you would be dodging like crazy, doing everything in your power to avoid those attacks. You'd die sometimes, just like you did before, but you'd always come back and you'd always keep trying to kill me, no matter what.

I don't know how long this went on for. I honestly don't know. It could have been minutes, hours, or even a whole day. All I know is that at one point, I finally exerted myself too much and I found myself growing tired. And then, in that moment of tiredness, I wasn't fast enough, and you struck me right across the chest with that knife of yours.

I fell over onto the ground, gasping as I held my wound. I tried to get up, but I couldn't get up. It hurt just to move, so I was forced to stay on the ground, clutching the huge cut you left on me. You looked at me with a sad glare.

"Sorry Sans," you told me like I was some puppy you just killed. "I just need to know. But I'll reset everything when I'm done. I promise."

And then, you left me and headed for Asgore's room. You left me there, all alone on that floor with red fluid spilling out of me and onto the ground. All I could do was watch you walk away, retreating to the throne room.

Then, it was all black. An empty, lonely black.

I waited for that reset. I waited for you to do whatever you had to do with Asgore so that you could get whatever you wanted. I kept waiting in that darkness, waiting for me to wake up in my bed again so that I could pretend that none of this ever happened.

And then sure enough, just like you promised, you reset everything. I quit dwelling in that darkness and was back in my bed again just like that, like all of the other times. I remember I sighed in relief as soon as I found myself there. At last, you were going to fix everything. You were going to return happiness to everybody. You were going to stop playing around with our world as if it was a game.

I headed back to Snowdin Forest, and sure enough I found you there. You looked pained, like you really regretted killing literally everybody in sight. As soon as I approached you, you looked at me for one second, then quickly turned away. You were ashamed to look at me because you knew that I was aware of what you were doing. You knew I had seen everything you had been doing, all of these resets, all of those murders, everything. You looked like you were going to cry.

I didn't say anything to you. I didn't comfort you because you didn't deserve my pity after everything you had done. You seemed to get this, because you then went to where Papyrus would find you and you went through everything all over again. I watched you from afar as you went the extra mile to make everything right, talking to every monster you saw and making everybody in the world happy.

When the time came and we were all back on the surface once again, you took me behind that rock where we could talk in peace. You were smiling back then, and you were crying too. But instead of crying sad tears, they were happy ones. You were happy that you had finally given everybody happiness again.

"Well, here we are again," you told me. "We're back on the surface. And this time, I'm not going to do anymore resets. It's not really right to sacrifice your guys' happiness just because I'm curious and because I've got nothing better to do. There really will be a new tomorrow after today."

"Aw, thanks kid," I told you, smiling even though I really didn't feel like it. "You really don't know how happy I am to hear you say that. Really, you don't."

You just kept smiling at me, knowing it was better not to speak. And as I kept looking at you, I realized that I really wasn't angry at you anymore. Yeah, I could still feel some resentment toward you with the way you had to make me live through all of your resets, but it was slowly disappearing. The wrath in me that I felt when I was murdering you back at that golden hall was gone. All I could feel now was the willingness to forgive you.

Maybe you did deserve another chance. I mean, you brought us back to the surface like you promised me.

I extended out a hand to you, ready to take you back to the others so that we could all go into the human civilization, but then, your smile changed. Your smile turned evil, and the next thing I knew, you pulled out a knife from your pocket and you slashed it right across my chest, like you did when you killed me the first time. I toppled over, looking up at you in disbelief, but you were already gone and were killing everybody else with us. I couldn't do anything as I watched you kill everybody one by one, all of them dying so easily because they hadn't expected you to suddenly turn on them…

I couldn't believe what was happening. I just couldn't.

Was everything you said a lie? Had you just said you were going to make everybody happy to trick me into letting my guard down? Were you really nothing more than a murderous psychopath who didn't care about anyone or the pain you brought?

I didn't get to think about that for much longer, because the next thing I knew, I was back in my bed. Alive and unharmed. Again.

Now I was seriously pissed off at you. I couldn't believe that you had stolen happiness from everybody a THIRD time. Oh, you were going to pay. You were so going to pay for this. I was going to kill you the second I found you in Snowdin Forest. I didn't care about pretending to go along with the day's routine; I was flat out going to kill you and never stop until you quit coming back. I was going to make sure you never set foot outside of those Ruins ever again.

Everybody would be much better off without you ever coming to the underground.

I raced over to Snowdin Forest for what I hoped was the last time and found you there. I stormed up to you as my eye was filled with power and materialized the white blaster heads at my shoulders. I had them open their mouths, ready to fire at you. I had my power close in on your soul, ready to ensnare it and thrash you around the forest. But just as I was about to fling you against The Ruins' cold wall, you collapsed on the snow, huddled up into a ball, and you started crying. You actually cried, tears streaming down your face as you wailed loudly.

I hesitated. I didn't understand what was going on. Why were you acting this way? Were you just doing this so that you could trick me into thinking you were defenseless, and then kill me in my moment of weakness? What were you planning?

I let go of my power surrounding your soul, but I didn't make the heads disappear. I still didn't trust you. Not after everything you had put me through. Not after you had betrayed me far too many times already.

"Kid, why are you crying?" I asked you.

"It wasn't supposed to be this way!" you cried, your voice muffled as you kept her mouth buried in your sleeve. "I really wanted to let you guys be happy again! I did! But then… something happened and something took control and I… I… I ended up…"

You cried louder, unable to finish whatever you were blubbering about. I just stood there, not sure how I wanted to react. I really did think that you were tricking me, especially after everything that you had been doing. I really did think that and was going to kill you. I wanted you to pay for everything you had done to me. Even if you could just reset and make it so that I never killed you in the first place, I wanted you to feel the pain of dying again. It was the only punishment I could give you.

But then, I looked at you again, and I saw that you really were upset. You were crying so hard, and I realized that you couldn't fake that. You couldn't fake the sheer regret and sadness in your face. It was impossible to do that. When I realized that, I sighed as I made the blaster heads go away and went over to you. You didn't bother moving. You only remained there, still crying until I was standing right in front of you.

"Are you saying that you didn't mean to kill me and everybody else back when we were all on the surface?" I asked you.

"Y-Yes," you stuttered. "It wasn't me, I swear. It was… this thing I saw after I killed you. This thing made me kill all of you guys. I swear, it was all it, not me."

"Thing?" I asked.

"Y-Yeah," you said, trying to calm yourself. "After I killed you in that judgement hall, I met this human inside of the room where Asgore was. It was a weird human, a kid like me, but they weren't alive. It was like they were half-alive, or something. I don't know how to explain it. They said I was the one who brought it to life because of all of the killing I was doing. They thanked me for bringing them back to life. And then… they erased the whole world. They just erased everything. I went back here to try and reset everything, but it wouldn't work for some reason. That kid wasn't letting me. So I asked them to bring back the world, and they did, but I had to give them something in return."

"And what was that?" I asked quietly.

You whimpered before you uncurled from your tight ball. You looked at me, tears streaming down your face, and then put a hand over your heart.

"My soul," you answered. "They wanted my soul. So because I really did want to make you guys happy again… I gave it to that kid. And… the world reset and everything was back to the way it was. I didn't think that giving that kid my soul would do anything, but it did. It doesn't want you to be happy. It wants you to take over the human realm and the monster world and bring destruction everywhere it goes. So, when I brought everybody to the surface, it took over me and made it so that you guys couldn't be happy. It took all of that away from you guys. I don't know why it wants to do all of this. Maybe it just loves seeing everybody miserable. But… that's what happened. That's why I killed all of you. And it'll keep doing that every time I try to get you guys back to the surface too. It can follow me, even when I reset. It'll make it so that you guys won't ever be happy. All because that kid has my soul…"

You slowly sat up and looked at me with regret still shining in your eyes. I don't do anything except keep my hands in my pockets.

"I'm sorry, Sans," you then told me. "I'm sorry that I used your world as an experiment. I should have just made you guys happy and leave it at that. But no… because I was so curious to know what else could happen and nobody ever knowing about it, I kept resetting and watching different things happen. I did all of that because I was bored. I did all of that for a stupid reason. And now… now that evil kid's going to do everything it can to make it so you guys can never be happy again. And it's probably going to try and kill all the humans as well. I can't even give you my soul so you guys can break the barrier and leave this underground place. That kid will kill you if you try to take it. It's all my fault… all my fault you guys can't ever be happy again…"

I watched you start crying all over again, no longer having anything to say. All I could do was watch you, not sure what I wanted to say. I had too many feelings going through me right there. On one hand, I absolutely hated you for what you had done. You had used my world as your own personal playground, all of us monsters as your little toys. You manipulated everybody, all because you knew that nobody would ever remember what you did. You even destroyed our world because you wanted to see what it would look like. All because you were bored with your life and wanted to play God. It was sickening. And also, you had tricked me way too many times. You took the sympathy I gave you and tore it to pieces, and I was in no mood to have you betray me AGAIN. No, I was done with you backstabbing me.

But on the other hand… I felt bad for you. Even though you had caused me endless suffering by resetting everything again and again, I honestly felt bad for you. You hadn't done this out of any malicious intent. You had only done this out of curiosity. You were just a curious little kid with a power that you couldn't fully comprehend, and like any other little kid, you used it selfishly and thoughtlessly. You had never wanted to hurt anybody.

I kept watching you cry as I felt these emotions inside of me, trying to understand them. I tried to figure out which one I was going to listen to and what I was going to do from here on out. Because, I knew right then there was no way I'd ever get to see the surface again. Nobody ever would. Not with whatever had happened to you.

I thought about it some more, and then, after a minute, I finally figured out what I would do.

I reached down and extended out a hand to you. You looked up at my hand, and then me.

"I forgive you, kid," I told you. "Even though you killed everybody who knows how many times, I forgive you for what you did."

You didn't look like you believe my words. I didn't blame you; even I didn't believe what I'm saying.

"But why…?" you whimpered out. "You know about all of the horrible things I've done. You know that I killed you and wouldn't listen to a word you said. Why are you forgiving me?"

"Because you never did anything because you were evil," I answered as I tried to figure it out myself. "You just did it because you didn't really understand how much pain you were actually causing. It's still a stupid reason to do what you did, but it's not evil."

Your eyes grew wide and your tears stopped running down your face.

"R-Really?" you asked me.

"Yeah," I answered. "Maybe I really shouldn't forgive you and just kill you right now, but... I just really don't feel like it. Maybe I really don't care anymore after living through all of your resets. Or maybe I really do believe that you aren't evil. Hell if I know. But whatever it is, I think I can let it go. For now."

You looked at me for a moment longer, and then you threw yourself at me. I tensed up, ready for you to kill me a third time. I wrapped up my power around your soul, ready to fling you into a tree. No way was I about to die again. But then you hugged me as you remained on your knees, burying your face into my jacket as you kept crying.

I sighed, so happy that you hadn't betrayed me again. You couldn't understand how much relief I felt knowing that my sympathy wasn't in vain. So I just smiled as I let you cry, getting rid of all of the pain and guilt inside of you.

It was all I could really let you do with how it was impossible for anybody to be happy again.

And then, that's when an idea hit me. It felt crazy, but with everything that had been going down, maybe it wasn't so crazy after all.

"Hey, I have an idea," I told you.

"Yeah? What is it?" you asked as you looked up at me, your eyes still wet.

"How about we try to get your soul back?" I asked with a smile.

"Wh… What?" you asked, not believing a word I was saying.

"Let's get your soul back from whoever stole it from you," I said again. "I'm sure that if we look around, we can find a way to find that kid again and get your soul from them. We can do it together."

"I don't know," you said, looking away from me. "What if we just end up in massive trouble and a bunch of horrible stuff happens to us, like all of the monsters here wanting to kill us? And I don't know if I wanna drag you into this. I've already caused you enough suffering…"

"Please, you can't hurt me anymore even if you tried," I then said, grinning. "Plus, you could use my help. You've seen how many times I've killed you."

You looked up at me, frowning uncomfortably because I imagined you really could remember how many times I killed you. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Here, how about this?" I then said. "I'll come help you figure out how to get your soul back, but in return, if something goes horribly wrong, you have to reset the day. That way, we're both okay but we both remember what happened. You do that, and I'll stick with you until you we get your soul back. We'll go through a million more days if that's what it takes. You might think that kid's going to have your soul for all eternity, but there's a way to get rid of that kid. I know there is. We'll beat that evil kid somehow. With all the determination you've got, nothing's impossible.

"So whaddya say? Do we have a deal?"

You looked at me for a minute, looking like you thought I was crazy for saying that. I probably was crazy for coming up with the idea, but I didn't care. I figured it was time to quit being a pile of lazy bones and actually do something again. The monsters of the underground deserved to be happy again, and some evil little brat shouldn't be the one stealing it from them.

You kept staring at me for a little bit longer, and then you started smiling.

"Yeah… yeah, it's a deal," you said.

You let go of me as you got up and wiped your tears away with your sleeve. Then, you told me that you were going to reset everything again and see if you could find anything in The Ruins. You promised you'd come back, and then, just like that, you were gone and I was in my bed as if nothing even happened.

Now I find myself standing in front of The Ruins out in Snowdin Forest, waiting for you to come out so that you can tell me if you found anything.

I don't know how long we'll be doing this for. I really don't. This really can go on for forever like I was thinking. But, that's okay, because one day we will find a way to get your soul back from that evil kid.

One day, we'll do just that and all the monsters will return to the surface and live there happily.

One day, there will no longer be anymore resets.

So, promise me that we'll get to that day, alright?

I'm waiting for you.


End file.
